Musical instrument.



PATENTED SEPT. 15, 1903.

L. JOHNSON. MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLIOAT'ION IILED JAN. 10 1903.

N0 MODEL.

N VE N T0)? 5% WITNESSES,

flu M A TTOHNE) ire. 738,81Il;

UNIT D STATES iatented September 15, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

LORENZIO JOHNSON, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO A. A. CHAPMAN, OFLOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7 38,81 1, dated September 15, 1903.

Application filed January 10,1903. $erial No. 138,512. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LORENZIO JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and Stateof Kentucky, have invented a new and useful Musical Instrument, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in stringed musical instruments; and the obto jects of my improvement are, first,mellowness and sweetness of tone; second, strength of tone, and, third, symmetry. I attain these objects by the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 2 is a face view of the instrument; Fig. 1, a central longitudinal section; Fig.3, a plan view of the neck and supporting-bar, and Fig. 4 a transverse section through the body on the line 21.

20 Similar reference-numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

The body 1 of my new musical instrument is of the conventional heart shape, terminating at its lower end in two gracefully-formed lobes, with a longitudinal depression on the back between the lobes, thus forming, practically, two cotyledonal lobes, of which the sound-board forms the flat portion. The

0 sound-board 2 is flat and of .relatively large area in order to prod uceafull tone. To thoroughly support the sound-board 2 to mellow the tone and to communicate the vibrations to the entire body, I provide what I call a sound-bar 5, which is secured transversely to the under side of the sound-board 2, and a supporting-bar 3, which is an extension of and integral with the neck 7 and head 4, on

which the said sound-bar 5'rests. The bar 3 extends through the entire body and is relatively broad vertically to prevent its bending and consequentsagging of the neck 7 and finger-board 11. The tailpiece 10 is attached to the lower end of the bar 3 to relieve the body 5 of the instrument of allstrain from the strings. The bridge 6 is preferably of the form used on violins. A sound-hole 8 in the sound-board 2 is located in the most effective place under. the strings and between the finger-board 11 and the bridge 6. The strings 9 are prefer- 5o ably of wire and applied in pairs, as on the mandolin, and similarly tuned and played with a plectrum.

I have found by experiment that the back of myinst-rument having the two cup-shaped depressions due to the cotyledonal form refleets the sound-waves against the fiat soundboard in such a way that the instrument producesasweet, mellow, and yetfull and strong tone peculiar to it which I have not been able to obtain from any other shape. The external globularprotrusions on the back, leaving the longitudinal depression between the cotyledons, make this instrument more easy to hold while playing than the mandolin and others, preventing the familiar and annoying slipping and sliding out of position.

I am aware that other musical instruments, as guitars, have a bar to strengthen the soundboard and others also, as banjos, have an extension of the neck through the body. I do not, therefore, claim these devices broadly; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a. stringed musical instrument, the combination of a body, a sound-board on said body, a sound-bar secured transversely to the under surface of said sound-board, and a longitudinal supporting-bar extending through said body, integral with the neck of the instrument, on which said sound-bar rests, substantially as specified.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a musical instrument, having its body of the con- 8 ventional heart shape, consisting of two symmetrical,cotyledonal lobes,and a sound-board forming the flat portion of said cotyledonal lobes, substantially as and for the purpose specified. 9o

3. In a stringed musical instrument, the combinationofabodyhavingtwosymmetrical lobes, a sound-board of .the conventional heart shape, providing relatively extended strong, mellow and true tone, substantially as specified.

LORENZIO JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

A. A. CHAPMAN, A. KNOBEL. 

